Howling at the Moon
by parsnip
Summary: [Oneshot to Torn Apart] It is a much beloved tale, the story of how Kouga and Inuyasha finally banded together against their mischievous kin. It was a tale first told by Jaken and passed down through time. It is a tale of one drunken night they shared.


**Author's note:** This one-shot was inspired by the continuation fic, _Torn Apart_ I wrote in answer to a challenge by Striking Falcon to finish writing _You Don't Know What You Have 'Til It's Gone_. I do believe this fic can be enjoyed on its own however, without having read either novel.

Still, I would like to give some background that may be of benefit. First of all, after the defeat of Naraku in the first novel, Kagome disappeared back to her time somehow managing to take Sango with her to the future.

Both Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were 'competing' for Kagome's hand in marriage and as a result, each vows to wait five hundred years for Kagome. Sesshoumaru declares Shippou his heir and keeps in close contact with Inuyasha's village where the kitsune is being raised until he reaches adulthood. Occasionally, he brings Rin with him and soon love blossoms between the two as Rin attempts to follow in Kagome's footsteps and becomes a healer even though she lacks miko spiritual power.

Due to her close ties with youkai, many trust her skills and so Kouga calls for her aid when his mate, Saiai goes into labor. This takes place approximately eight years after Kagome disappears.

One final note: This story picks up while Kagome is recuperating from injuries sustained at the end of _Torn Apart_. This fact is unnecessary for enjoyment as it is just a lead into the story. The storyteller is Shippou's son-in-law, Kitaro.

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Howling at the Moon**

An Inuyasha & Kouga story

Kitaro peered around the corner, searching for the ever present Sesshoumaru. He stifled a snicker, thinking of the great taiyoukai hovering over a human. Granted, he had done the same when he found his beloved wife injured and wounded with his first born nestled in her arms, but it was Sesshoumaru!

He at least let family near his daughter though everyone else had received a healthy dose of kitsune-bi.

But Sesshoumaru? Nope, it was himself or no one. The doctors had to twist his arm to even let visitors pause outside the door, let alone get a foot inside, and the doctors themselves were only tolerated because he wanted to make sure Kagome was completely cured and it was one doctor at that, no nurses. It was an injustice that needed correcting.

It didn't help that Inuyasha was extremely suspicious of his motives, keeping tabs on him until he left the country to return to his work as a WHO representative. Kitaro sighed. All he wanted to do was fill the little miko in on a few details about her in-laws and the wolf clan leader. Just a few, harmless, little insignificant details...

Today was his last chance to 'spill the beans,' and he'd be cuckolded if he didn't succeed! Not that it would matter much anyways since Mottomokicho was gone. His ears dropped slightly as the dulled edge of grief sharpened itself ever so slightly against his heart.

Peering around the corner of the hallway again, he noted the coast was clear. Sidling along the wall and leaving his woes behind, he listened intently at the Kagome's door for the even breathing that accompanied Sesshoumaru's presence, but all he could hear was the quiet beeping of electronics. Pressed against the door, he gently lifted his nose to peak through the narrow window, ready to duck if a certain taiyoukai was inside.

He blinked. The taiyoukai was _actually_ missing! He couldn't believe it. Luck was with him this morning. Quietly, he twisted the door jamb, easing it open before squeezing into the sunlit room.

"You know Sesshoumaru's going to kill you if he finds you in here."

Kitaro jumped, turning in midair to land on his feet, hand pressed tightly to his chest. "Don't do that!" he exclaimed, heart beating wildly.

Kagome grinned weakly from her vantage point on the bed, head resting lightly on her folded hands. She slowly turned onto her back and reached with one hand to maneuver the hospital bed into a semi-upright position. She was still feeling demonstrably weak from her run in with the plague.

"So what are you risking life and limb for?" she half mocked, half teased.

Kitaro crept further into the room and settled heavily into a chair that was still warm from Sesshoumaru's ever present body. Feeling the warmth seep into his skin, he jumped back out of the chair, squeaking slightly.

"Where is he?" His head swiveled, looking for somewhere he could hide, not trusting his illusion and masking spells to prevent the taiyoukai from being able to sense him.

Kagome laughed lightly, her day brightened by the kitsune's antics. "Don't worry. Sesshoumaru left to go take care of some things down at the office. He won't be back anytime soon since he also has to appear in court in an hour." Kagome looked down at her folded hands resting in her lap. "That, and I told him if I saw him once this afternoon I'd purify his pretty ass."

Kitaro slumped back into the chair. His body couldn't take another scare like that! He was almost certain of it, and he had the medical background to prove it. "Well, you'd think he'd at least trust me in the same room with you. I am a doctor after all," he half mumbled though he hid a grin at Kagome's spunk.

"You should know by now he doesn't trust any of his family. There's a few to many tricksters for him to do that." Her grin lit up the room, melting his worries away.

"Of course!" he sniffed indignantly, relaxing a little in her presence. "What did he expect with a bunch of kitsunes in the family? Another fawning lackey like Jaken?"

Giggles filled the room, brightening the stark whiteness of the hospital. "So, why are you here? You're Kitaro right?"

The black fox grinned. "Yep, Kitaro at your service. And I'm here to brighten up your day before I say goodbye and return to work."

"Oh? And how do you propose to do that?" she asked, stifling a yawn. This was the most liberating talk she'd had in a while since Sesshoumaru refused to let anyone talk to her besides her doctor and Inuyasha if she was lucky. He really needed to learn to loosen up. Instead, he preferred to just sit in the room and watch her like a hawk to make sure she got better. The most stimulating thing in her day was the argument they'd get into over her refusal to eat the jello.

Kitaro pursed his lips slightly, though he already knew what tale he wished to tell. "Are you still curious how Inuyasha and Kouga banded together against their kin?"

Kagome's eyes lit up. "Yes! Tell me, please! I can't believe I almost forgot about that!"

Kitaro grinned and settled more comfortably into his chair. "Well," he drawled, "It all began about eight years after you and Sango disappeared. It was an otherwise normal night, nothing really special about it except for the howling of the wolves signaling the birth of a new heir. It was that first wolf cry that alerted a midwife of her need and so she petitioned her closest relative to transport her in haste to the mother's den, a bag of supplies already packed. It was on this fateful night, that Inuyasha's and Kouga's fate was sealed..."

—/-/—

Inuyasha muttered under his breath as he jumped from tree to tree, lighting briefly before taking off again. It made no sense why the girl couldn't just make AhUn take her on these little forays, but _no_, she had to ask him. He couldn't believe he was going to have to be civil with that mangy wolf!

"Stop it Inuyasha," said Rin on his back as she dug her chin into his shoulder. "You know I couldn't take AhUn with me. Jaken took him to run an errand for Sesshoumaru-sama. That left you since Shippou is taking care of trade negotiations with China."

Inuyasha seethed. "Well, you should have talked to Sesshoumaru then!"

Rin gasped. "I couldn't do that! It'd just be wrong."

Inuyasha glanced back at his companion. "Oh? And it's any better that you're using _me_ as a pack animal instead of _him_?"

She giggled and hugged her Uncle Inuyasha tightly. "But you're more fun then him."

His heart melted slightly. The girl had grown up fast under Kaede's tutelage, still retaining her adoration of Sesshoumaru. That she preferred him over Sesshoumaru made him appreciate her good sense. Anyone would be more approachable then that frozen hunk of ice, even if it was a little melted by Kagome and the child resting so trustingly on his back.

The bastard.

The conversation drifted into a companionable silence, each taking comfort in the calm night pierced only by the baying wolves as they relayed their coordinates to their pack leader. It was a little unnerving that they had such an advanced system of communication. It was even more annoying that it was never offered as they searched for Naraku.

At last lighting on a mountain ledge, Rin slid to the ground, carefully checking the pouch on her back to make sure all the herbs were still intact. It would not do to send out the wolf tribe to look for herbs in the middle of the night because she lost them. They'd be more likely to trample them then not, moon notwithstanding.

Satisfied, she turned to the two sentries standing outside the cave entrance. "Where is she?" asked Rin, turning from cute, innocent child to mature woman in a matter of seconds.

Ginta swallowed and motioned inside. "She's already started her contractions, Miss Rin."

Hukkaku swallowed nervously. "Is—Is there anything we can do to help?" He hated feeling useless, especially when the females in the pack were involved.

Rin patted his arms consolingly as she stepped past him. "Some hot water and clean rags would be useful. Could you find me some of those?" She turned adoring eyes up to them, making them stiffen slightly in pride. Nodding the affirmative, they rushed off in search of the necessary items.

She laughed softly, shaking her head. Men, they were always so helpless during a birthing. "I'll be back soon, Inuyasha. Try not to get into any trouble."

The hanyou keh'd softly, crossing his arms as he watched her walk into the dark cavern. He turned is back on the extensive network of caves with the intent of finding some tree he could rest in. Instead, he felt his nose twitch as the reek of alcohol breached his nostrils accompanied by the heavy smell of unwashed wolf. His lips twisted into a grin as he recognized the scent.

Turning sharply, he followed his nose back into the mountains until he reached a small cave, more an indentation in the wall really, where none other then Kouga was resting with bottles littering the ground around him.

"Getting drunk, fleabag?" Inuyasha verbally poked as he loomed over the ookami.

"Give it a rest, mutt," he snarled taking another swallow of the sake. "You'd be here with me if it was Kagome in there yelling up a storm because _you_ got her pregnant!"

His face paled as he imagined all the sits he'd have to go through. He'd be lucky if he could walk for a week. Kouga nodded seeing the hanyou's face blanch. "Yeah, that's right. She'd sit you so many times you'd swear to cut off your little package first then get her pregnant again!"

Inuyasha frowned. "It's not small, you mangy wolf!"

He cackled. "That's right! Only a man with a small one would deny it so quickly! Inuyasha's got a small one!" He sang raucously, swaying back and forth, letting a little of the alcohol spill out over the edge.

Inuyasha kicked one of the bottles lying on the ground, sending it skidding off the precipice to crash somewhere below. The intoxicating fumes of alcohol drifted to his nose, telling him the bottle had been full.

"Hey! Don't waste the sake!" Kouga laboriously got his feet, intent on swinging the inu-hanyou off the cliff to go join it. Instead, he fell against Inuyasha, making the poor fool buckle under the unexpected weight.

"Get off of me!" he yelled, making Kouga wince.

"It's not like I _want_ to be here," the wolf muttered, propping himself up on his arms. His eyes were inevitably drawn to another bottle of sake lying next to Inuyasha's head. Snatching it up, he leapt back, seemingly no longer affected by the intoxicant, to rest his back once more against the stone wall. Tipping back the bottle, he gulped half the contents down before wiping his mouth on a grimy wristband.

"Man, that's good sake." He peered at the dumbstruck and for once speechless Inuyasha. He could use a little entertainment to pass the time. Maybe...

Fishing out another bottle, he tossed the clay vessel to land on Inuyasha's stomach. "Why don't you just drink that and leave me alone," he riled, eyes narrowed to catch his reaction.

Inuyasha grasped the bottle in one hand, as he flipped himself up to stand. "I don't need yo—" His voice was cut off as a loud scream echoed through the hollow mountain. His face paled as he sank to the ground, now cradling the bottle.

"Maybe just a little," he gulped, uncorking the bottle and tipping it back.

Kouga cackled in glee. He couldn't wait to see the inu-kuro get drunk. It'd make the whole night worthwhile.

—/-/—

"Damn it!" snarled Inuyasha as he tossed yet another bottle away. They had gone through a little over half of the sake Kouga had squirreled away during Saia's long pregnancy and he was starting to feel the effects. "Can't that woman just give birth already?"

Kouga snarled and threw his half-filled jug in Inuyasha's direction in the hopes that one of the two men before him was the real one. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that brat of yours anywhere near _my_ mate! She doesn't have the experience to do it properly like Kagome would."

Inuyasha jumped when the jar shattered on the rock next to him, dousing him in the pungent aroma of sake. "Hey! What'd you do that for?" he slurred, trying to stand up to lunge at the wolf.

Kouga laughed when Inuyasha's foot gave out beneath him, making him teeter slightly before falling back on his posterior. "That's what you get for being a half-demon, Inuyasha!" he cackled gleefully.

He glared at the wolf, a light shining in his eyes. "Why don't you try it then, you mangy good for nothing, two-timing fleabag!" He watched with satisfaction as Kouga's eyes flashed red. It would seem that despite the slight lisp in his voice and the fuzzy feeling warming his insides to slush, he could still make the wolf leader burn in anger.

"That's it, mutt! You're going down!" Kouga unsteadily stood and lunged forward, tripping over his own feet and landing in the hanyou's lap. Muffled swearing could be heard as the wolf attempted to pry himself out of Inuyasha's lap to the hampering efforts of an overreacting and flailing Inuyasha.

"God! What are you trying to do, Kouga? Just because you haven't been getting any from your wife lately doesn't mean you can go and molest me!"

Kouga glared at the hanyou as he chugged another half liter worth of alcohol to erase the taste of the hanyou's clothing from his mouth. "Well, I wouldn't be in this state if that brat could just end this already! It's your fault you drove Kagome away. This whole thing would be done be done by now if she was here."

Inuyasha sulked as his head spun from the force of his yell, ears cringing with volume. "It's not my fault," he muttered trying to dislodge the ringing. "It's Sesshoumaru's for pushing her to making a decision that did it. He made her want to leave and the Shikon no Tama did the rest, ruining my life in the process!"

He fumbled around for another bottle, sticking his hand unexpectedly in the shattered booze next to him. "Feh," he growled glaring at his hand before licking the sticky rice wine off his fingers.

The wolf was still half-sprawled on the pavement where Inuyasha had finally pushed him. Slowly, dawning realization crept into his awareness as yet another scream tore through the night. "So Sesshoumaru's the one, eh mutt face?" He climbed unsteadily to his feet, this time bracing himself on the wall. "Then let's go give him a piece of our mind!"

Inuyasha chuckled. This was getting better and better. Pushing himself upwards, following Kouga's example though it irked him to do so, he at last stood to his feet and took one tottering step forward. "Let's go kick some taiyoukai ass!" he crowed, weaving on his feet.

Kouga laughed and released his iron grip on the wall. Falling forward just a little, the two mates walked out of the cave and down the mountain path, raucously talking and leaning on each other out of sheer desperation, toting bottles of sake in their hands.

—/-/—

It had been a quiet night, until those two dimwits showed up outside his castle gates. And fools of fools, the guards let them in and pointed them in his direction. Sesshoumaru slowly exhaled, releasing his frustration. All he wanted to do was gaze at the moon and bask in the heady aroma of roses and lilies where Kagome and he had spent some many afternoons. Was it really to much to ask?

"Yo! Sesshoumaru, we've got a bone to pick with you!"

He watched as Kouga stumbled into the garden, obscenely drunk and smelling of the sake he carelessly drank. Inuyasha wasn't much better, and from the smells of things, they had stopped in the village between his castle and Kouga's den to stock up on more of the sake they cherished this evening.

Inuyasha fumed as his half-brother just continued to stare down his nose at them. He hated it when the youkai acted all superior. He was just as good as him!

"You could never compare to me, little brother." Ice dripped from Sesshoumaru's voice. He hated alcohol and what it did to people's perceptions, especially when they didn't even realize they were speaking their thoughts. That Inuyasha subsisted to its lure proved him weak.

"What did you say!" screeched Inuyasha as he lurched forward with claws drawn leaving Kouga teetering on the grass in bemusement.

Sesshoumaru dodged easily. "You're weak, Inuyasha, to use alcohol to find your courage to face me."

His eye ticked as he swiped again at Sesshoumaru. Growling, he yelled, "Just hold still you bastard!"

Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed before he darted back in and kicked his legs out from underneath him. "Don't speak with such disrespect, _hanyou_."

Kouga growled as he tottered over to his winded drinking buddy. Using the utmost concentration, he grabbed Inuyasha's swaying hand and pulled him to his feet, nearly knocking himself off balance in the process. "Stop picking on us, you jerk! It's because of you we're in this mess. Saiai's about to die from childbirth because that brat of yours isn't competent enough to take care of her! If Kagome was here, I wouldn't be in this fix, and it's all your fault."

Kouga turned to face a bored looking Sesshoumaru and growled. Relying on the false courage running through his veins, he charged Sesshoumaru head on with Inuyasha falling closely behind. As they drew near, Sesshoumaru side-stepped the wolf and grabbed his arm to swing him around to face Inuyasha. Not heeding the changed direction, Kouga continued running forward to head-butt his conspirator.

Needless to say, Sesshoumaru did not need to worry about those two disturbing the peace anymore.

—/-/—

Kagome laughed, holding her side from the pain it induced. "You mean they actually got drunk and attacked Sesshoumaru?"

Kitaro's grin widened as warmth made a fuzzy home in his heart. It felt good cheering up an invalid, especially when that invalid was his obaa-san despite the disparaging years in their ages. "Yep! And it gets better. The two of them woke up the next day staring face to face with each other. The whole castle could hear them shrieking before they lost their lunch in the bushes."

Kitaro bowed his head in mock shame. "The roses never did recover from that unwholesome fertilizer..."

Kagome laughed again, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "I can see why they didn't want anyone to tell me about it. Although, that still doesn't explain why they banded together against everyone else. I mean, it's completely understandable that they'd get a little drunk and everything."

The kitsune just shook his head and grumbled beneath his breath. "It's because Jaken was witness to the whole thing. They squealed like little girls when they found themselves lying on the ground nose to nose and draped all over each other." His grin returned as his merrily twinkling eyes returned to watching Kagome's wide ones.

"After expelling their stomachs, they each accused the other of perverseness since they couldn't remember a single thing from the night before. It wasn't until Jaken called the guards on them, that they even remembered Saiai had been in labor all night long. Imagine the wolf-clan's surprise when they leave the cave with three beautiful new wolf cubs and papa's no where to be found..."

Kagome laughed again. It was too good to be true. That Kouga could even think that Inuyasha wanted to feel him up or vice versa was priceless. She'd have given a right arm to be there for that.

Kitaro joined in her laughter as he slowly got up from his seat. Reaching over her bed, he gave her a warm hug. "Glad I got to talk to you before I go. And if you can, try to marry that big hairy dog on the 20th of October. It'd be a _big_ favor to me!"

Kagome's laughter was muffled as she returned the hug, trying to figure out why in the world he wanted to her to marry Sesshoumaru in October. There was something fishy going on, and one of these days, she'd figure it out.

—**-_The End_-/—**

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Final Author's Note**

The reason Kitaro wanted Kagome to marry in October is because her entire extended family decided to bet on when her and Sesshoumaru would tie the knot.


End file.
